Nuclear power generation is a process by means of nuclear fission in a nuclear reactor, i.e. a process in which nuclear fission takes place by causing a uranium nucleus to collide with a neutron, and then the heat released at the time of nuclear fission is transformed into electricity.
Although nuclear power stations require high initial costs for construction, compared to other electricity generating facilities, fuel costs incurred by nuclear power plants are much lower than those of other facilities. Also, in consideration of their operational life span, nuclear power plants are advantageous not only in that they require a low cost of generating electricity but also in that they are environmentally friendly thanks to their low greenhouse gas emissions. However, radioactivity produced in the process of electricity generation has a detrimental effect on humans and the environment of the earth. The issue of disposing of high-level radioactive waste remains controversial. Also, there is the risk of nuclear accidents. These are the disadvantages of nuclear power stations.
FIG. 1 schematically shows cooling or freezing equipment systems by means of traditional processes of nuclear power generation. By reference to FIG. 1, traditional nuclear power generation systems comprise a containment vessel 10, a nuclear reactor 12, a steam generator 14, a turbine 16 and a generator 18.
The heat generated by nuclear fission in a nuclear reactor 12 is delivered to a steam generator 14, and the steam generator 14 makes high-temperature and high-pressure steam by using the delivered heat. The steam generated in the steam generator 14 is supplied to a turbine 16, and a generator 18 connected to the turbine 16 is used to generate electricity.
The electricity generated in the generator 18 is supplied to the cooling equipment 22 of a building 2, located nearby or remotely, through a transmission line 20. The cooling equipment 22 generates cooling air by using the electricity supplied by the generator 18, and the cooling air is used to cool the building 2.
However, such traditional cooling equipment systems have low energy efficiency. This means they have the problems that energy efficiency dramatically declines during the process in which nuclear energy is transformed into thermal energy, mechanical energy or electric energy and that transmission loss, heat generation or noise generation takes place during electric power transmission. This means electricity supplies alone are not sufficient to cool and freeze large-scale facilities.
Accordingly, there is a growing demand for facilities capable of cooling and freezing in a more efficient way.